Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Thank You, Followers & Readers

Okay, so I'm often techno-clueless and my Internet comprehension hovers somewhere akin to a lizard's ability to tongue-flick one insect at a time -- lacking that fly-catching multitask talent that so many of you possess as non-lizards.

Many months ago, I became aware via a blog alert that some people wanted to become "followers" of my blog. Knowing not what a "follower" was (except I realize that surgical terminology includes instruments used in succession called filiforms and followers, hardly relevant in this instance), I became naturally suspicious. Unfortunately, and I truly offer my apologies, I rejected their offers to become "followers."

But even we non-geek computer users approaching geezer status wise up eventually, at least a little, and I now understand through trial and error that followers are the good guys. In the interim, I seem to have accumulated even more followers -- some of you with backgrounds and reputations that come as a real surprise -- and in my continuing digital stupor I just want to say thanks for believing I occasionally have something to say (despite my evolving and angry politics! -- a subject I would love to avoid but cannot, because I can see that we're in trouble. . .). Or maybe to some I'm simply a curiosity or boring sleep aid.

However, I remain curious about the very word, "followers." For example, are my followers akin to followers of the Charlie Manson family? If I wanted you all to organize and commit crimes for me, would you do so? Or say, hmm, that maybe I ask you all to invade a small country so I can become king, would you? I doubt that I could actually plot out the perfect crime for my followers to pursue -- but maybe I would ask you all to write cryptic notes and stick them way in the back of your sock or underwear drawer so they wouldn't be discovered until after you die someday. The note would read simply:

I'm sorry about the murders, but they deserved what they got. One more to go.

I don't think that would be a crime exactly, but it would drive your families and law enforcement agencies nuts. What are they going to do, conduct a seance with a Ouija board and temporarily bring you back for ethereal interrogation?

I started this blog in 2007, intending only to post scans of important and interesting UFO-related documents from my old files going back to the sixties, and this we have accomplished. If you start from the beginning, you'll find letters from military officials and even from "known" names such as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Rep. Gerald R. Ford (long before his political ascension). But I've included other things, too, and I think the variety balances out.

While I'm the first to admit that I think earlier blog entries are the best, I hope you'll hang in here because every once in a while I find something worth posting. True, I'm no longer active in UFO research and rely upon the info already out there via the courtesy of other members of the dedicated, but that's why I've tried to include some of the best links available.

For instance, if you stay in touch with blogs from the incomparable journalist Billy Cox and veteran common-sense researcher and writer Kevin Randle, you'll be ahead of the game. Frank Warren's "UFO Chronicles" and Grant Cameron's "Presidential UFO" flirt with both the new and the old, and Linda Moulton Howe's "Earthfiles" often serves up a stranger-than-science brew. The NICAP site, not to forget, reflects pure UFO history of gargantuan proportions. There are more links and I value ALL of them, and so might you. Please, keep them shining on your own personal radar.

So thanks, everybody, whether you've become followers, regular or occasional readers, or folks who simply stop by now and then because you "can't believe what a jerk" I am sometimes (I can't believe it, either, and I have no intention of changing!). By the way, when Election Day comes around, you might consider voting for horses or dogs. Considering the alternatives these days, it's not difficult to endorse Equine Party or Canine Party candidates. What about house cats, you ask? Nope, no Feline Party -- house cats have no need to engage in politics because they always get what they want. But you already knew that, didn't you?

About Me

Unless otherwise noted, all entries are property of Robert Barrow, to be reprinted only with my permission, please. To CONTACT me via e-mail please address your note to me as follows: TYPE rob_wildwinds AND THEN TYPE @yahoo.com